MathDB
Minimum Distance Travelled

Source:

November 17, 2005
geometry3D geometrytrigonometryAMCAIMEtrig identitiesLaw of Cosines

Problem Statement

A right circular cone has a base with radius 600 and height 2007200\sqrt{7}. A fly starts at a point on the surface of the cone whose distance from the vertex of the cone is 125, and crawls along the surface of the cone to a point on the exact opposite side of the cone whose distance from the vertex is 3752375\sqrt{2}. Find the least distance that the fly could have crawled.